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All replies
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Oct 8, 2015 12:48 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwellby VikingOSX,Not anymore. Apple removed the Secure Emptry Trash menu items in El Capitan because it was not working correctly. There is no information as to if, or when this feature may be reinstated with future updates.
In the interim, there is a secure remove (srm) utility that allows you to control the number and type of data overwrites on a per deleted file basis. If you are familiar with the Terminal, than review the srm (1) man page.
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Oct 8, 2015 12:51 PM in response to VikingOSXby Nempnett Thrubwell,Thanks, I think that I'll stay clear of Terminal.
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Oct 8, 2015 1:01 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwellby Sparkleberry,★HelpfulAlso see this thread
What happened to the option to secure empty trash in Finder?
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Oct 13, 2015 8:26 AM in response to Nempnett Thrubwellby Children's Author,The reasoning that Apple, Inc. gives for removing the “Secure Empty Trash” button in its El Capitan OS update is:
Description: An issue existed in guaranteeing secure deletion of Trash files on some systems, such as those with flash storage. This issue was addressed by removing the "Secure Empty Trash" option.
CVE-ID
CVE-2015-5901 : Apple
Reference:: About the security content of OS X El Capitan - Apple Support
That might sound logical to Apple, but to me that seems illogical. It is like Ford saying, “We could not guarantee that seatbelts would work properly in the Fusion, so we removed seatbelts from all of our vehicles.”
Therefore, one must wonder if something else is at play here.
Did Apply secretly comply with a government request to remove the “Secure Empty Trash” button from its operating system because it made it difficult to recover files from computers? If such is the case, then Apple’s breakthrough Super Bowl Mac ad of why 1984 won’t be like 1984, was just propaganda. Apple has made 1984 come true. If you have not read George Orwell’s book titled 1984, perhaps you should. Big brother IS watching…
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Oct 17, 2015 4:40 AM in response to Children's Authorby Children's Author,★HelpfulIn my opinion, a better solution would have been for Apple to write a code that adds the “Secure Empty Trash” feature, but also includes a friendly pop-up reminder that appears whenever flash storage devices are erased (emptied from the trash). Such a notice might say:
Due to their design, Flash Storage Devices do not qualify for “Secure Deletion.”
Personally, I would prefer to have some secure file deletion, especially on my Mac hard drive, as opposed to none.
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Oct 20, 2015 12:12 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwellby !cultOfApple,Here are 3 commands, any one of which you could run from Terminal - you could also create an alias for these...
- rm -rP /<path>
- srm -rfv -s /path (try the m and z switches for more options)
- diskutil secureErase freespace LEVEL /Volumes/<drive>
"Secure Empty Trash" is gone as per Apple:
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Nov 15, 2015 4:33 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwellby annabelle,There is an app Permanent Eraser that does the job, it's free and has a contextual menu too
You don't even need to put the file in the trash,
just option-click the file and choose ERASE
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Nov 15, 2015 6:35 PM in response to Children's Authorby Barney-15E,Children's Author wrote:
In my opinion, a better solution would have been for Apple to write a code that adds the “Secure Empty Trash” feature, but also includes a friendly pop-up reminder that appears whenever flash storage devices are erased (emptied from the trash). Such a notice might say:
Due to their design, Flash Storage Devices do not qualify for “Secure Deletion.”
Personally, I would prefer to have some secure file deletion, especially on my Mac hard drive, as opposed to none.
Based on the wording of the document, it is unclear that it was reliable even on non-SSDs. If that is the case, they certainly couldn't have a feature called "Secure Empty Trash" if it wasn't actually "Secure."
I guess they could just call it, "Secure Empty Trash, maybe."
It is much more secure to encrypt the entire drive. Then, the "sensitive" files are secure even when you haven't deleted them, yet.
